Silver Tides (Silver Tides Series) (31 page)

I smiled and left, making it look like I was taking her advice. I had decided to let the whole thing go, it wasn’t my concern, humans couldn’t live on Seal Rock anyway.

After a quick breakfast we piled into the cars and headed out toward the same bluff where we’d found Kerensa. We walked along the cliff’s edge, until we found an outcropping of granite that had been arranged into a fence around a large cottage.

Dr. Conneely didn’t bother to knock he simply let us in. The house looked like it had been abandoned for some time. Particles of dust danced in the sunlight that filtered through the ancient curtains, giving the house a mythical feeling.

“Search everything,” Dr. Conneely ordered.

“Won’t the owners come home?” Mum asked, hating to break the rules.

“This was my parents’ home,” Dr. Conneely admitted. “It’s been abandoned since they passed away.”

We each branched out, looking for something that could be the Heart of the Sea. Self-doubt filled me as I looked through old photos and the personal items of a couple that had ruined two colonies of seafolk for the sake of their love. Daniel could die in a few days because Adrian and Celeste had chosen to leave behind their responsibilities, and it had led to a war. Even if by some miracle we could find the Heart of the Sea and restore merfolk-selkie relations, would Daniel be willing to leave Atlantis for me? Would the distance prove too much for our relationship?

“You look dire,” Daniel teased, sneaking up on me.

I plonked onto the old patchwork crochet blanket on the bed, dejected.

“It’s so stupid,” I fumed, frustrated by the unknown. “I don’t even know what I’m looking for.”

“You’ll know it when you see it,” Daniel replied, without a shred of doubt.

“They were so selfish!” I ranted. “How could they do that to their own people?”

“I’m sure they didn’t realize the far-reaching consequences of their actions,” Daniel replied, thoughtfully. “They were in love, and they ran away. I’m sure they never imagined that Atlantis would lose its light and that the selkie city would be destroyed.”

Daniel plopped down beside me, sending a plume of dust into the light.

“Would you do that for us?” I asked, searching his blue eyes.

“We don’t need to do that,” Daniel smiled confidently. “We’re meant to be together. You’ll return the Heart of the Sea, transform into a selkie, unite our people and everyone will live happily ever after.”

“And if I don’t find it?” I asked, reluctantly.

“You will,” he replied, confidently. “Stop worrying and keep looking.”

Daniel’s stoic nonchalance was annoying. A commotion in the kitchen interrupted our conversation; we hurried to investigate the source of the ruckus.

“What’s going on here?” yelled Kerensa, her hair wild from the hurried trip across the moors. The siblings were staring daggers at each other in the dusty kitchen.

“We’re looking for the Heart of the Sea,” Dr. Conneely informed his sister, unconcerned by her surliness.

“It’s not here!” Kerensa bellowed, looking like the homeless cat woman from
The Simpsons.

“Well, then there’s no harm in us having a look around,” Dr. Conneely retorted.

Kerensa sunk into a chair. “I got a call from the Uptons that there were some Emmets robbing me parents’ house,” Kerensa said, calming a little. “It just about sent me mad.”

“I’m sorry,” Dr. Conneely weaseled. “I should have asked you yesterday.”

“It’s fine,” she said, her temper dwindling. “Why’s it suddenly so important?”

Dr. Conneely filled Kerensa in on the details of our situation, as each member of our party filtered back into the kitchen empty-handed.

“Seems to me, if ye want to know what the Heart of the Sea is, you’d go visit Alamer,” Kerensa stated.

“Who’s that?” I asked, chewing my lip, feeling the slightest tinge of hope.

“Not who, where?” Kerensa corrected with a cackle. “It’s the underwater city we immigrated from, it’s just off the coast here.”

Dr. Conneely slapped his head. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“I was always the smart one,” Kerensa teased, her smile making her look younger.

“It would seem that way,” Dr. Conneely agreed, his face wrinkling into a smile. Despite years of being apart they still had a deep fondness for each other. I wished Mum and Dad had afforded me a sibling, but I saw now how complicated that would have been.

Kerensa agreed to take Sophia and me back to town, as the others headed down to the beach to swim out to Alamer.

More than ever I realized how different I was. The forlorn look on my face watching the others leave incited Kerensa's empathy.

"There's nuthin worse than wanting to go home when you can't," she sympathized.

"I feel like I should be there," I agreed. I was the one who was supposed to return the Heart of the Sea according to Dr. Conneely’s vision, but I couldn’t even journey to the underwater city. For curiosity's sake I wanted to visit Alamer, but I was happy to be human, and to be walking around clothed and not swimming in the freezing sea naked.

"Where's ye pelt?" Kerensa asked sympathetically.

"I wasn't born with one," I admitted, swallowing the lump of emotion in my throat.

"So you're a changer," she concluded.

"Nope, just a regular human." I shook my head.

"Your mama's royalty," Kerensa reasoned, "so your papa would be too; you're just a late bloomer. Marilyn me sister didn't turn till she was well into her thirties. She's a changer like Cubert, the doctor. I was the only one born with a pelt, and it's brought me nuthing but trouble. The others were lucky."

"Where do you think Arthur hid your pelt?" I asked, changing the subject, because talking about it made me feel worse.

"If I knew, I'd be back at Alamer with my sweet Jermyn," she said, her face looking younger at the mention of his name.

"Was he your boyfriend?" I asked.

"Me husband," she replied sadly. "I see him often, but I can't go home with him. He offered to come live on land but the neighbors are so nosy, it’d never work. I’d have run away years ago if the magic in our pelts didn’t keep us close by."

"That’s terrible," Sophia commiserated, doing a good job of hiding how weird she found the situation.

"I wish we could find it," I sighed, distracting myself from the pity party I was aching to throw myself. I needed to talk to someone and download my insecurities, but the people I loved most were all invested in my magical transformation. All those who weren't, like Jaimie, would think I'd lost my mind.

Watching Daniel, Charlie and Mum descend the seaside path to swim to an underwater city illustrated how different I was. I wanted to change to fit in as much as I wanted to remain human. My head was full of static, and all I needed was quiet, to think and work out what I was feeling. Then maybe I could focus on the Heart of the Sea better.

Kerensa parked the car beside a slate-fenced cemetery. The gravestones ranged from flat simple plaques to towering crosses and childlike cherubs.

“I gotta put some flowers on me parent’s resting place,” she said, grabbing a bouquet of white lilies from the back of the car.

While Kerensa placed flowers on her parents’ graves, I wandered from gravestone to gravestone, reading the names and calculating the ages of those interred.

"Ennor Parks, 1890-1936, Wife Mother Friend," I read.

"Never was there a meaner women," Kerensa spat, making me jump.

"You knew her?" I asked, startled by her abrupt appearance and her menacing tone.

"Arthur's mother," Kerensa answered. "She was the kind of woman only a son could love."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"There's a reason for all those mother-in-law jokes," Kerensa said bitterly. "Some women don't know how to let go of their sons, and their sons don't know how to be men because of it."

"It's better once they're gone," Sophia agreed. "I promised I'd never be like that."

"I'm pretty lucky then," I replied, putting a comforting arm around Sophia, who kept looking back toward the sea, missing Daniel.

"At least she's been gone a long time, over seventy years," I said.

My mind flashed back to my earlier conversation with Kerensa; all the pieces started to come together. Suddenly I knew where Kerensa's pelt was, and I had a plan to get it back.

Sneaking Around

Mum and Sophia hurried to put on their makeup for the big night out. They had been as excited as a chocoholic in the Cadbury factory, when I’d told them that I’d bought them tickets for the Minack Theatre.

"Are you kids sure you don't want to come to see
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
?" Sophia asked for the hundredth time.

"There were only four tickets," I lied, "and we couldn't leave Charlie alone; I don't think he's housetrained."

"Hey!" Charlie replied in feigned offense. "A seal has one accident on the carpet and you never live it down."

Sophia laughed and turned back to the mirror to continue beautifying herself.

"What are you up to?" Mum asked suspiciously. She fixed me with the look that when I was younger; I used to believe she was reading my mind. I really hoped that mind reading was not part of her secret selkie powers. I hated telling Mum half-truths, but I knew the truth was too horrible to reveal.

"A kid can't even do something nice for her olds without them being suspicious." I shook my head with dramatized sorrow.

"I'm sorry," Mum said regretfully. "I just have this feeling...."

"That you're going to have a great time!" I enthused.

She searched my face for what I was hiding, but my plan was so uncharacteristic that Mum wouldn’t have believed me capable of such treachery.

"Fine," Mum relented, returning to her self-beautifying mission.

"Everyone in the car," Sophia thrilled. "Kerensa will be waiting for us at the theatre."

As the car drove away I stripped off my nightgown to reveal black tracksuit pants and a baggy black jumper.

"Get changed into any black clothes you have," I ordered Charlie and Daniel.

"Are we dressing up as bogan ninjas?" Charlie laughed at my less than flattering outfit.

"Shut up and do it, Charlie," I fumed, embarrassed by his comment.

"Come on," he smiled fondly. "You look like a Reject Shop cat burglar."

"I didn't pack any clothes with the intention of sneaking around in the dark," I snapped.

"Let's just get this done," Daniel said, becoming the voice of reason to our childish dueling. "The sooner we find the Heart of the Sea the sooner our city can become a hub of modern advancement."

Charlie bailed out of the conversation to get changed, before Daniel's next vision for Atlantis was spun. Since returning from Alamer he'd done nothing but thrill about the underwater city.

"You know they have fashion and music and the whole city is lit by some kind of underwater combustion. The water is airated so the selkies can walk around, but it's dense enough for the merfolk to swim with their tails. It's magical. Once we get the Heart of the Sea, Atlantis will be just as modern. Once you turn into a selkie you can live there with me, you'll be queen; it'll all be perfect," Daniel enthused, wrapping his arms around me.

I felt sick at what he was saying. I didn’t know if we would find the Heart of the Sea, and the death of five people would be on my hands. Even if we did find the relic, there was no guarantee that I would ever morph. I didn't know if I wanted to live in an underwater city, even if I could change. While I was jealous of everyone enjoying Alamer, I was content to be human.

Daniel took my silence as encouragement to continue. "Atlantis is going to be a better place because of our marriage. You know the finfolk and selkies intermarry here, which is surprising because the selkie females are… Well, let's just say the female merfolk and mermaids are hotter than super models. It was so eye-opening to see how advanced they were compared to us..."

"Dan," Charlie broke in, "get ready or we'll never find the Heart of the Sea."

Daniel planted a kiss on my forehead. "It's going to be great!"

After all Daniel’s enthusiasm, I felt like a wet blanket had been dropped on my head to suffocate me.

"Are you OK?" Charlie asked his handsome brow furrowing with concern. He looked ready for a night on the town with his black slacks and matching skivvy. The black leather jacket just made him more attractive.

"We need shovels," I replied, changing the subject.

"Alamer was great," Charlie said seriously, as he looked into my eyes, "but a life on land would be better with you."

His words made my cheeks burn and I looked away, unnerved by his sudden sincerity.

"That's what Daniel meant to say," Charlie said to quell my discomfort. "Now let's get those shovels."

The night was cold and clouds obscured the moon as we walked to the back of the garden. We made our way to the garden shed and found a heavy long handled shovel and a small short handled shovel.

Daniel stepped out a few minutes later looking stunning in black pants, a button up shirt and a fitted wooly jumper.

"Seriously," I complained, "you both look like you're going to a burglars’ fashion shoot, and I look like a schlep."

"I assumed we'd be sneaking around in the dark, so I brought black clothes," Daniel shrugged, handing Charlie and me black beanies, “and five black beanies.”

"Boyscout, huh? Thanks," Charlie said, pulling on his beanie. "I assumed we would be sneaking around too.”

"Are you serious?" I said in disbelief. “It never even crossed my mind that we’d be sneaking around.”

“That’s why I love you so much,” Daniel said sweetly. “You’re just so nice.”

“I’m not nice,” I defended. “I’m bad ass.”

“If by bad ass you mean you help old ladies across the street,” Charlie replied, “then yes, you’re totally bad ass.”

“Who told you about that?” I scowled.

“It’s a good thing,” Daniel smiled, moving on. “So, where are we going?”

“I’ll give you directions,” I hedged, as we loaded the shovels through the centre of the car from windscreen to back window so they would fit.

Since I was the one that was foretold to find the Heart of the Sea, everyone followed my word without question. It was disconcerting, but I was glad that they trusted me, because explaining what I was about to do, would have been difficult.

Daniel drove along the darkened narrow street in silence. Whether Charlie and Daniel suspected what we were about to do was hard to say, but they had become very serious once the car’s engine had rumbled into action.

“What is this idiot doing?” Daniel stated in frustration, as a car drove toward us.

All our eyes focused on the old ute hurtling down the road in our lane. My body froze from the adrenaline anticipating our impending head-on collision.

“You’re on the wrong side of the road!” I yelled.

“No I’m....” Daniel disagreed, as Charlie swiftly reached over the seat and guided the car back into the right lane.

“We’re in the UK, dude,” Charlie corrected quietly.

“Sorry.” Daniel chuckled awkwardly. “Another fun adventure in the quest for the Heart of the Sea.”

“We’re here,” I said breathlessly, making Daniel park immediately.

Charlie stiffened at the location I’d chosen, but said nothing. Daniel seemed unsurprised by our destination.

With the play running at the theatre, the whole town was deserted, though I assumed the cemetery would have been desolate anyway. The silver moon shone down on us, ducking between threatening clouds, as we picked our way through the headstones.

Everything looked different in the dark, peaceful but menacing. All day the wind had been blowing across the moors, but as night had fallen it was quiet. I wasn’t fond of cemeteries; death seemed so unnatural, being still when we were made for motion. Cemeteries were the home of the unmoving, the unchanging, and it unnerved me. I counted out the headstones, having been worried earlier that I wouldn’t be able to find it in the dark. I checked the headstone before the boys gathered around me.

“I figured that the Heart of the Sea may be buried with Celeste and Adrian,” I said, throwing a bag over the headstone, which clearly stated that it was Kerensa’s mother-in-law’s grave that I intended to dig up. I figured the boys would be more likely to dig up the Conneely’s for the Heart of the Sea than Ennor Park’s grave for Kerensa’s pelt.

“You want us to desecrate their grave?” Daniel said, disgusted.

“I just have a feeling,” I pleaded. “I know it’s in there.”

“I’ll do it,” Charlie said, giving Daniel an out. “You stand guard so you can mer-wow or mer-magic anyone that may come along; they’ll forget you but not us. Princess here can help me since it’s her idea.”

“No, I’ll help dig,” Daniel said reluctantly. “She’s a girl after all.”

“Yeah, a girl who needs constant care and encouragement,” I said sarcastically. “I can dig. Charlie’s right, people will remember me, but your merman thing makes you virtually invisible.”

“Fine,” Daniel agreed, clearly unhappy, “but if someone comes, I want you both to disappear.”

“Aye aye, captain,” Charlie agreed, breaking the surface of the grass that had grown across the grave.

Even with all the force I could muster, I couldn’t budge the grass. Charlie didn’t say a word; he just removed the top layer so that I could work on the soil. I dug less than a quarter heap of dirt to Charlie’s full shovel. I was chewing on my guilt as steam puffed from my lungs; the night air was so cold.

My shoulder’s ached and my hands burned with calluses. It felt like we’d been digging for hours as the hole opened out to about our height. I hoped that Mum was still at the play, though it didn’t really matter; after I found the pelt we would have to confess anyway.

“That’s about six feet,” Charlie panted with exertion. “Whatever was here has disintegrated.”

Uncharacteristically, I cursed.

“Do you want to tell me why we’re digging up Ennor Park’s grave?” he asked seriously.

“You knew but you didn’t say anything?” I asked, surprised.

He nodded. “I guess I was hoping you’d tell me the truth; I thought we were past the lying thing.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, dejected. “I was sure that Kerensa’s husband had buried her pelt in his mother’s grave. She said she hadn’t seen the pelt since 1936; that’s the year Ennor was buried, and Kerensa said she wouldn’t be surprised if he buried her pelt. I figured if I can’t find the Heart of the Sea, at least I could help Kerensa go home.”

“That’s noble,” Charlie said, patting me on the back.

“Yeah, and futile,” I snapped, climbing out of the hole. “It’s not here! This is such a nightmare.” I felt sick from desecrating the grave and being so decidedly wrong. My mistake made me feel numb and hopeless. Subconsciously, I was hoping that finding Kerensa’s pelt would lead to finding the Heart of the Sea, a sign from the universe that I had the capabilities that everyone assumed I had. Instead, I discovered that I was just a silly girl with delusions of grandeur.

“We’ll fill it in, no biggie,” Charlie said, nonchalantly, as he looked up at me.

“Hey you there!” yelled a Cornish voice.

Charlie grabbed me around the waist and pulled me into the hole that was deeper than it looked from where I had been standing moments earlier.

We could hear Daniel conversing with the person who’d discovered us.

Charlie kept his arm around my waist, as we stood silently, trying to hear Daniel’s conversation, which was being carried away by the wind. I could feel the warmth radiating from Charlie’s body. His caramel eyes sparkled with untold secrets and mischief, like a child sneaking a peek at the Christmas presents before his parents were awake. He flipped his head so that his fringe moved out of his eyes.

“Puts a new spin on six feet under,” he whispered.

“This is my worst nightmare,” I replied quietly.

“I’m not that bad,” he said with mock offense.

I grinned. “I mean being in a grave alive.”

“Worst than not becoming a seal?” he asked playfully.